Inciteful Roland criticism on CDM (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/createdigitalmusic/~3/234592727/): "People love their 303, their 808, even their 909. Yet when these a whole generation of kids desperately wanted you to just re-release these things — or your Jupiter, or Juno, any of your other fantastic keyboards and sound toys of yesteryear — you’ve responded with souped-up, “modernized” versions that mainly share only the name."

Yes, they are a very silly company. Personally I think people get overly lustful over this stuff but yeah - would it really be so difficult just to make something the way you made it before? Give the kids their 909s!

Actually I think a lot of companies are guilty of gratuitously 'improving' their products and breaking them in the process. I suppose they don't realise that what they're achieving is not really the same thing as what they're striving for. A synth conceived as a substitute for a real instrument is never a substitute, and its value is in its idiosyncratic character. Manufacturers seem to forget this too easily.

Bah - I think I'm just spouting* clichés. I'll stop.

Keytar solo!

(NO.)

(*I replaced 'spitting out' with 'spouting'. Etymological relationship perhaps? :) )